POLICE have come under fire following an incident at Mold Parish Church on Sunday.

POLICE have come under fire following an incident at Mold Parish Church on Sunday.

Two cars parked behind St Mary's were broken into while the owners were attending morning service.

Now a senior church official has hit out at the police for not providing more protection for the public in Mold - even though extra off icers were on duty to supervise the Flintshire 10k race in the town on the same day.

She said churchgoers felt extremely vulnerable and their cars seemed to be easy targets for thieves as there appeared to be no police on duty in that part of town on a Sunday.

'As I drove home I saw four police cars parked in another part of Mold while officers supervised a race,' said the irate church official, who does not wish to be named.

'They should be on duty on the street and visible to the public. This would deter criminals. I have been told there were eight car break-ins in Mold that morning, so where are our police?

'It appears the road race was more important. I'm so incensed I'm writing to the chief constable. It's shocking that you can't even feel secure when you're in church.'

The parents of a baby boy who was being christened during morning service were also upset by the car break-ins.

The mum said: 'One of the guests at the christening had his car broken into while we were in church and his mobile phone, a christening present for the baby and a birthday present for myself were stolen.

'It cast a bit of a shadow over the christening celebrations.'

Supt Michelle Williams described the thefts from the cars as 'despicable' and said there was a continuing operation to collar criminals responsible for a spate of similar incidents.

She said extra special constables were on duty at the weekend to help with the supervision of the race, but stressed this had not reduced police cover in the town.

'It is very sad when people worshipping in church are the victims of crime, and we will catch those responsible,' she added.

'We had to provide officers to supervise the race as it was a community event and we had to bear in mind road safety.'